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The Vamos a Leer Book Group

The Vamos a Leer book group began in February 2012. It is one of the programs we’ve developed at the Latin American and Iberian Institute to support and encourage teaching about Latin America in the classroom. Each month educators, teachers, librarians and community members from all over Albuquerque come together at our wonderful local bookstore, Bookworks, to discuss young adult books related to Latin America We also tend to indulge in plenty of delicious coffee and pastries from The Flying Star Café next door. . .our fabulous educators have had a long day, and it’s a nice way to relax. We meet the first Monday of the month (with a few exceptions due to holidays), so feel free to drop in and join us anytime. A listing of our upcoming events is available by clicking on the Events tab.

All of the books featured in the Vamos a Leer book group are chosen for their representations of Latin America, the Caribbean, and Latinos in the United States. With this criteria, we emphasize many of the books honored by the Américas Award program which annually recognizes U.S. works of fiction, poetry, folklore, or selected non-fiction that authentically and engagingly portray Latin America, the Caribbean, or Latinos in the United States. We also highlight books from other similar programs like the Pura Belpré Award or the Tomás Rivera Mexican American Children’s Book Award.

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8 thoughts on “The Vamos a Leer Book Group”

Dear Vamos A Leer,
As a retired member of IRA, I didn’t realize that they no longer publish a teachers’ journal in Spanish. I had hoped to give a gift membership and subscription to the teachers in a specific pre- and elementary school in Bogota, Colombia. Can you suggest another effective journal about teaching of literacy that I could send? I’d be very grateful.

Carolyn,
I don’t know of one off the top of my head, but let me do a little research into it tomorrow. I’m pretty sure I have some information at work that would be helpful. I will get back to you with anything that I find. Thanks for the question–it would be good information for us to have.

Hi Carolyn,
I’ve looked into this, I have some possibilities, but I’m also in the process of asking some others if they have better suggestions. The two I found are not specifically on literacy, which is why I’m waiting to hear back from some colleagues.
The two I found that seemed to have the best reputation are (1) Revista de Investigacion Educativa and (2) Infancia y Aprendizaje. I’ll let you know if I find some better options.

There are so many good books out there–I never have enough time to read all of them! We’d be so happy to have you read about our monthly selections and recommendations, then you can just add the ones that look interesting to your list, my own list is ever-growing 🙂 Thanks for your follow as well! I’m looking forward to reading more about your teaching experiences!

About

Vamos a Leer is overseen by the Latin American & Iberian Institute (LAII) at the University of New Mexico. The LAII is designated a National Resource Center for Latin America by the U.S. Department of Education. The Vamos a Leer blog supports K-12 teaching about Latin America by providing resources to educators, including lesson plans, author + book suggestions, and related materials.

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